Italy Road Trip - Travel Warnings

Italians have consistently thought up *everything* from oh, I don't know, the discovery of the New World, to the fax, the telephone, right up to the Google search engine, but then lost it when some clever marketeer took it up a level, declared native Americans, Indians, and just went with it. Ask Galileo. Heck even the popes were in France for a time.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times...Italy is seriously marketing challenged. After all, these are the folks who gave us Malpensa (ill thought) Airport and Soffass toilet paper, the likes of which always puts a smile on my face. So lately, traveling a whole lot up and down the gorgeous Italian highways criss-crossing the boot like lovely laces (which, I might add, would put any roads to shame the world over), I can't help but be perplexed by the road signs on every digital board brought to you by the Road Guys responsible for our smooth rides.

This one reads Drive Safely. But sometimes they invite you to go online (whilst commandeering your vehicle at 90mph?) to check out road conditions - which would be seriously messesd up if you took them at their word, started searching the web, and ended up rear-ending the truck ahead of you. Inevitably, you are gifted with a Fasten Your Seatbelts sign when in fact, 5km up the road there's an accident and you just blew by the only exit that would have mercifully allowed you to avoid it. But I digress.
During my umpteen years of driving around the peninsula, nearly every time I see the ANAS logo up above, I get a mini panic attack. That logo (again, at 130 km/hr) looks to me like a car on fire every time I whiz by it. In fact, it tells me there's an entire line of cars on fire in a mass brush fire, just as I plunge headlong into the upcoming tunnel.
Coming face to face with this dot matrix logo is always a good way to get the adrenaline going on long drives. But, taking a closer look (when you're home and online...not calling it up on Siri while careening a curve) and the logo isn't so bad after all.

I'm guessing that it represents Mercury's helmet speeding down the highway, but not so fast -- that block above is basically our Mercurio stumbling to a complete stop in order to pay the extortionate tolls. Or, it symbolizes the long rest he'll take at the rest stop after miscalculating on gas and a glass of water at 1pm, feeding time for the entire country. My personal favorite is that it's Mercury looking for toilet paper. 
I play this guessing game in my head just like back in the days before devices were a common feature on car trips...You had to spot the first cow / farmhouse / diner there from the back seat. 
For everyone who will be sitting in traffic on their return from the August exodus, well, count this as a marketing freebie. So, thank you ANAS for the graphics. But I'm just wondering how I'll ever come to know when a car is up in flames just around the bend.

Summertime...the Season to Abandon your Best Friend

A Dog Falls in Vulcano Buono There's been so much 'bad news' out there these days that I have been putting off my annual Dog Days of Summer post time and again. But August is upon us. And the streets of Italy (and many a European country) are emptied. Before long we will hear the mourning of dogs - abandoned - in the night. Or worse. We'll see them chained to lamp posts dying of starvation or lying - stiff - at roadsides. 

But this sad story does have a (sort of) happy ending - and that's the undying love and fatigue and endless hours logged by the thousands of volunteers, veterinarians and good hearted souls who, summer after summer, take these poor creatures into their hospitals, their houses, their hearts. 

And while it feels to me that this utter contempt for pets' lives has improved over the years, I am quite certain that dogs are still abandoned to their fate with - well, reckless abandon. Here's what it looks like: 

This little guy was hit by a car and despite his crushed bones
and probably internal bleeding, he kept his head held high
for hours upon hours, waiting beyond hope - for rescue.
His heart finally gave out and he died on route to the vet.

It is estimated that upwards of 100.000 dogs meet their end at the wheel or bumper of a car. Abandoned on roadways, they zig-zag in and out of traffic, trying to find any familiar scent that would carry them back to the very people they loved and trusted. 
I know about this guy's story thanks to the Facebook Page of Gianna Senatore - She dedicates her life to saving these animals and finding them homes across Italy. Some don't make it through the operation, others are returned to her post-adoption. For every miserable story she posts, you can find many successes and smiling faces in the before & after shots of these traumatized pets.
While they are closing down these sorts of centers, while keeping others open that are nothing short of lagers for animals found starving in cages, the Associazione Zoofila di Nocera Inferiore is a beacon of hope.


So what can we mere mortals do?  
Repost her photos. Help find forever homes. Donate to these centers. Offer to bring dogs with you to their new homes when you travel. Volunteer your time. And, above all, stop your car if you should see a dog lying - still with some life in him - at the side of the road.

Chiuso per Ferie - Taking a Roman Holiday

In Italy, right around August 1st you can practically set your clock to the day (Friday) in which every store in your orbit closes those metal shutters and heads to catch waves at the seaside or on some exotic vacation to sit out the summer heat waves. What to new arrivals or foreigners may seem quite an archaic practice, with time you begin to see the bright, sunshiny light - and you mount a countdown to the day you can walk across a street without getting mowed down, find ample parking spaces anywhere, and even get the pick of the produce without a cabal of little old ladies beating you to it first. 
You ignore the traffic lights on every corner, and pay attention to those orange and green florescent signs signalling - not so subtly - that the time has come for everyone to recharge their batteries, including the car mechanics & electronic shops. But this year, something was different.
Suddenly, those signs were almost nowhere to be seen. And after a few friends commented on the change in our summer scenery, well, I thought I had to too. But those missing signs? Weren't because your hardware store or coffee shop or local pizzeria had decided to stay open for the month. 
Chalk it up if you will to the "crisis" or perhaps that corner hardware stores are now few and far between (taken over by gelateria) but I believe the store owners decided to simply not spend one red penny on the once ubiquitous little signs sporting their customary beach umbrellas and the dates of closure, just to rub it in. This year, nobody but no one bought into them. And so instead of those neat little cardboard announcements, this year marked the year of the hand or computer-printed signs CLOSED FOR VACATION. On nearly every store front. 
But lest you think the Italians are going the way of the Greeks, think again. While Americans like to pride themselves in their Calvinist work ethic, most other countries - even taking off the entire month - are still more productive than the USA. 
And...judging by the incessant hammering, drilling, painting and plumbing of home and store remodelling taking place every summer, there's still plenty of commercial activity going on for everyone. Just don't ask the tax man about it.
As for me, I'll enjoy my tiny - almost vacant - corner of the world, speckled with outdoor concerts and outdoor movies. And just put in my ear pods to drown the din of the shop owners seemingly on vacation, but actually OPEN FOR REMODELING.

Summer in Italy - Jumping for Joy

This video has had nearly 31 million views

showing a dog's sheer joy after being reunited with his owner

I post it here, at the start of the summer exodus. When people from all over Europe, travel to places far and wide, leaving behind their furry ex-friends. In Italy alone, it's estimated that over 300,000 dogs are abandoned each summer on the streets and highways, usually to end up as roadkill. Others are mercilessly tied to lampposts in the hopes that a good samaritan will pick them up - they usually die of thirst. While puppies are routinely tossed into garbage bags and into rivers or garbage bins.

Seeing that dog above reminded me of my old dog, Trevor, who I found zig-zagging down a highway near Trevi in Umbria (hence the name). I managed to coerce him into the car with hot dogs, but most dogs run away from fear. For 2 -3 years after I picked him up off the roadside, every time he saw a woman approaching with a baby stroller or heard baby sounds, he would have the reaction above. It was heart wrenching. Because, while we can amuse ourselves on the internet with zillions upon zillions of dog & baby videos, unfortunately, in Italy - and I think elsewhere - a new baby is reason enough to abandon your four-legged family member. Actually, pregnancy is reason enough.

And while I know most of my readers probably wouldn't think of abandoning their pet and that we are not the ones we should be watching out for...I post this message every August 1st - just because.

Here's a link to my dog park in Rome - the best thing ever - and a bunch of newly abandoned dogs we're trying to find homes for.  PARCO SCOTT

And here, a few more past posts - feel free to share the photos!

You're the bastard 

Dead dog walking

Per favore, take me too! 

Rome Tourists find sights hiding in plain sight

Picture & slide show from Archive9news.com 

Satirical columnist Dave Barry once penned in one of his most memorable columns, when describing his trip to Italy with his family, that as far as he could tell, "Each summer in Italy, not only do all the Italians empty out of the cities to the beach or the mountainsides, but so do all the statues as well." This summer, almost on cue, it's not the statues but rather all the big monuments that tourists are wont to view. Considering the lack of money Roma Capitale govt claims not to have, it looks instead that we are building for the next Olympics.

So, for tourists, here's your quick guide on what you may or may not be seeing this summer:

• They may have closed all the roads leading to the nerve center of Rome, so tourists can have a leisurely stroll up the Fori Imperiali, but still the Colosseum looks like it's wearing braces while it gets the deep clean of a lifetime [with financing by footwear magnate of Tod's]

• Over near the Spanish Steps clean-ups are a double feature what with the Barcaccia - the little boat - fountain that spouts much-needed cool water in the summer by Pietro Bernini (dad, not son) under wraps so tall they nearly cover the Spanish Steps.

Photo & slide show by UrbanVision.it

• Peep around the corner of the wall there and look up.  At the top of the hill sits the convent and church of Trinità dei Monti but you won't see a thing. I believe it's part of the facelift of the entire Spanish Steps compliments of Bulgari but I can't be sure.  Let's just hope we don't end up with a rubbery-looking staircase that looks like it came from an Italianate Smurf Village, like the lips of fashion models who parade down them each spring. Supposedly it will all be back to its original splendor in two years.

• And finally, on everyone's wish list is to run the gauntlet between the hoardes of tourists, pickpockets, street mimes, counterfeit vendors and beggars toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain. Well, not so fast.  Although it is still a sensational masterpiece with its wild horses, it too is under wraps.  But this project gives us something for the money -- the City just completed a walkway that will allow tourists to get a nice view of the restoration works in progress.  That is, if someone is actually there working over the hot summer months.  Nonetheless, it might keep you out of the way of the pickpockets long enough to enjoy a unique vantage point on gorgeous art restoration.

All links live above for cool slideshows of the works

Dog Days of Summer II

Most Italians take the traditional month of August off for summer holidays -- It's all part of our Quality of Life that we've come to know and love.  But for our furry friends, summer doesn't go so well.  I reprise a mix of my usual August entries below.  I hope the day will come when I won't have to post it.  

Today marks the Official First Day of Summer for most Italians. It marks the day in which shutters go down, ‘closed for vacation’ signs go up, and streets go empty for the entire month. But it also marks the day in which over 300,000 dogs (600,000 by new estimates), sitting on death row, can no longer count on having their death sentences commuted just one more season. They didn’t know it, but since being given as gifts at Christmas, they’ve been living on merely borrowed time.

As a dog-owner, I find Italy to be the most dog-friendly country on earth; after all, they’re accepted in restaurants, stores, hotels, taxis, heck—I even took my little Trevor to concerts and Museums!  Each October 4th, in honour of St. Francis, churches hold special masses for your animals—in attendance.
But in what is one of the many contradictions of this wonderful place, when surf’s up, and the days grow long, well, Italians figure that it’s a good time to dump their best friend at the side of the road, hoping he’ll get ‘picked up’.  He usually does—by the front bumper of an SUV going 95 miles an hour.

The Italians (and they do not have the corner on this barbarian trait, as the problem is rampant throughout the Mediterranean), simply don’t consider animals as ‘pets’. They are beasts-- and no amount of unconditional love, company and dedication will change the fact that they can be disposed of as an empty pack of cigarettes--tossed carelessly out a car window.

While many of us animal lovers fret over the annual great dog massacre, some activists and City officials thankfully try to do something about it. Usually, by putting up poignant posters showing sad little doggies abandoned to meet their fate. This year, however, dogs got hit twice: no ad campaign was launched in Rome, and I fear elsewhere as well -- so dogs go abandoned due to the crisis & abandoned by those who might have helped sensitize the public to their plight.

Of course, they're hit a third time: when chained to lamp posts or criss-crossing major highways, before they starve to death or are mercifully hit.  Each year, abandoned dogs cause nearly 7000 roadway deaths (to humans) as cars swerve to avoid them. Wouldn't that have an impact on the rest of us?

As for me, August usually means running across motley packs of newly wild dogs: Poodles, golden retrievers, Dobermans, Beagles and every other mix of breed in between…it’s almost a charming scene right out of 101 Dalmatians, except for one thing: they don’t get saved in the end.

In 2009, controversial photographer Oliviero Toscani (from Benetton fame), 

brought his talent into the never-ending annual campaign.  

What race (breed) are you? Human or Inhuman?

The subtitle reads: 

Leave me with a friend, a relative, at the pound, in a kennel, 

but don't leave me on the side of a road. Abandoning a dog is a crime.

Please share this post.  This year, I did not see the usual ad campaigns anywhere - in a last-ditch effort to protect Man's Best Friend.

Life in Italy: A Case History

Now, we know that for five years and running (a heartfelt Grazie! to all my readers), all of my blog posts and the excerpts in my book are truly Case Histories of Life in the Bel Paese.  But I have decided to offer up a few slightly more 'practical examples' of the trials & tribulations of life in Italy (like the post on getting your driver's license), above and beyond my casual musings of the buono & the brutto.  I will also be creating a tweet stream most likely to let off steam of the daily inconveniences in the country that does its best at marketing and exporting its unparalleled Quality of Life.   Naturally, I will also tweet and continue posting about the over-the-top wonderfulness that comes part & parcel to Life in Italy as well.
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Customer (Dis)Service: The Local Gym

In the Prologue of my book, I wrote that one of the main features of Life in Italy was a lack of recourse.  This is generally the case when dealing with public offices or almost any retail store for that matter.  The unwritten rule (that Eataly - photo above - actually chose to write) is, "The Customer is Never Right" - an entire chapter in my book.  So, I should not have been surprised when WellnessTown, an otherwise superb Roman gym - one of the best on earth (excepting for the fact that they refuse to install drinking fountains) fell short - yet once again - when it came to providing the service I paid for, e.g. use of the facilities.  

WellnessTown, in short, is nothing less than the brick & mortar equivalent of Lucy, holding the ball out for Charlie Brown to punt.  Always holding out that promise, season after season, that 'this time, things will turn out differently.'  And year after year, I fall for the same trick.

When I first joined the Technotown gym years ago, they had building materials in the huge exercise equipment room.  For years, they would tell you when you were signing up (forgetting that you might have heard that old yarn before) that they were "in the process of building a sauna & massage area" as well.  It never happened, and eventually, probably because it was a violation of safety rules & regulations, the props were removed.  That doesn't stop their saleswomen from spinning that line to newcomers even today as they get them to sign on the dotted line.  Another rule from my book:  Caveat Emptor. 

Technotown finally went belly-up (in the very Italian world of not providing customer services to stay in business, but relying on shaking down the clientele as much as you can before you go out of it) and with it, so did our memberships.  Partly owned by the City of Rome, it was rechristened within months, WellnessTown, and the doors were opened widely.  Drawing from the Italian Manual of Customer Service, however, and in a bid to ingratiate yourselves to the thousands of shafted past members, naturally, after our workover, none of our memberships would be credited to get us to come back in for a workout.  For me, this meant going elsewhere.  A loss to them of about €700 ($885) per year, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

I rejoined for the yoga, rolling my eyes when they told me the one about the massage area Coming Soon, since WellnessTown boasts the best instructor on the planet, along with all their other instructors as well.  As usual, the individual Italians are infinitely better than the institutions for whom they toil.

But then came the Pool Membership (aka I've got a bridge to sell you...).  Each year, WellnessTown opens up its gorgeous pool area, removing the overhead tarp so we can all enjoy a few laps in the sweltering sun.  It is seriously the city's coolest diversion in one's otherwise sweaty summer existence.  The process, however, takes a few weeks to open it up and a few weeks more to close it.  Simply put, if you happen to have a 'Swim Only' membership, you can't use the pool.  What's the big deal?  Surely, they'll credit you the days that you can't swim.  NOT.  Years back, I found this out the hard way.  After I protested, I was told 'they couldn't do anything about it,' and once again, I withdrew my membership.
This year, I decided to give it another chance.  I would just make sure to start my membership after the pool opened.  
But before signing the contract, I asked about the pool closing.  I was reassured by Irene, one of the well-trained members of WellnessTown's less-than-honest staff, that in June, the pool had only been closed for a few days.  She said (and I quote, "Our members were upset by this, so now we keep it to a minimum and in any case, you can use other areas of the gym.").  
The contract read that I would not be reimbursed days or allowed to recoup for manutenzione ordinaria (standard maintenance).  I consider 'standard maintenance' a cleaning of the filters, but, suddenly, I found out that for them that also meant a two-week closure of the pool come September.  So was I surprised when coming into the gym one day, to find a sign posted that for 'standard maintenance', the pool would be closed a full three weeks, one quarter of my membership.  An honest employee told me it was so they could restore the entire wooden structure; something that in my handbook is decidedly, 'out of the ordinaria'.  Upon protesting the situation, I was told in short order:

1)  The saleswoman would 'never have said such a thing' (e.g. I was lying - a common rebuttal in any instance, and one that I was told repeatedly by the entire staff)
2)  Go talk to the facilities guy 'cuz it's not their decision
3)  Go talk to head of sales 'cuz it's not his decision
4)  They never lie and the three week closure falls under, naturally, ordinaria manutenzione
5)  They were considering allowing us to recoup the time (a bald-faced lie, since we would have had to have been notified at the moment of closure) 
6)  I'd need to talk to the owner who was unavailable at this time (read: never)
7)  My request to pause my (and everyone else's) swim contract until the pool reopened would cost them €15,000 (Huh?!!  I tried making the case that she might try adding up the years in lost revenues from me and a few others, but that line never works in Italy--there is a huge disconnect between people holding down jobs and customers continuing to give their custom)
And this is what I mean when I penned the fateful words in my book, No recourse for the weary.  Naturally, by not following my own advice and getting hotheaded while laying out the logical reasons why it's simply bad business not to give us the 12 weeks of pool use that we had contracted for, I assured that no graceful solution would ever have been found.  
As a Case Study, to live in Italy, I needed to have: 
a)  Made my case calmly
b)  Moaned and groaned about the inconvenience
c)  Showered them with compliments in what a great gym it was, and how pleased I am with them (which is generally the truth aside from the pool closure & lack of drinking fountains...)
d) Pleaded that they help me out here and e) Allowed them a Bella Figura moment of a face saving repeal.

The Italians have a great expression:  "He who 'loses it' goes from being right to being totally wrong."  It's no wonder Charlie Brown always just lied down on the football field in stark silence.  With Lucy's dark curly hair, she may have been Italian for all we know.

Summer in Rome: Who turned off the aqua?

Picture compliments of Travel-Leaf.net
check out their article for more on the nasoni

Ahhhh...those refreshing long-spouted fountains of Rome, the appropriately nick-named, nasoni.  Who doesn't love them?  Moreover, who doesn't particularly love them when the mercury tops 90 degrees?  I literally plan my walks around town just by way of the nasoni fountains.  And now, you can even download a groovy (and free!) app that will tell you where the nearest one is (of course, if you're roaming in Rome, it'll cost you more than the €2 mini-bottles of water you buy at the bars...)

But, as you leave your home or hotel where you no longer run the water when brushing your teeth, you see the water just spilling out 24/7 and down into the drains.  The claim is that the run-off goes toward watering Rome's agricultural fields; but I wonder if that's not just an urban legend.  The park near my house was hooked up to the nasoni with an expensive irrigation system that stopped working pretty much the day the water works trucks drove away.  Needless to say, of the hundreds of newly planted bushes there, only a handful have survived.

I have oft moped about the ludicrousness of dumping good, clean water right down the drain.  The EU fines Italy millions year after year for this wanton waste of a precious resource.  No one can comprehend why the fountains simply don't have taps (although Travel Leaf provides an explanation that holds water...the taps were vandalized).  But, with the economic crisis leaving city budgets blistering from the heat of Mr. Monti's debt management, turns out a solution could be found.  This summer, the water started spilling out more slowly.  I know that from how long I'm bent over, hands cupped so my dog, Arcibaldo, can take a drink (two dogs later and neither can drink from the tap?!).  Turns out, the city, in order to slow the cost of serving good, clean water to the populace (and multitudes of tourists, I might add) took the pressure down a notch or two.  Brilliant.  The cost savings is said to be in the tens of millions.

Of course, this, after they levied the evil tourist tax in order to 'improve tourist services' - so we get less water in return.  But either way, I'm okay with that since most tourists are aghast at the waste, and, it's a huge improvement on boiling hot and dirty Milan where they simply took away all the fountains.  Not as a cost saving measure, mind you, but because people were - horrors upon horrors! - actually using the free flowing water.  To wash their cars or, in the case of the homeless, to clean themselves.  The fountains were ruining the bella figura image of the city.  Although I would have liked to invite the Mayor to step out of her insulated car and walk by a stinking homeless man...maybe she would have thought better of it.

But as for me, I think it's a nice step in the right direction (both turning down the pressure and getting a town Mayor to mix with the hoi polloi).  

And, if you want to know how one actually should take a sip from these wonderful fountains, check out The Beehive Hotel's Cross-Pollinate charming How To Video.  Now, if I can only get Archie to look at the video, too.

Italy: A Snapshot from the Past

I occasionally enjoy thinking back on 'how things were' in Italy, in the not-so-distant past, and how far things have come in terms of services and general quality of life issues.  In these overheated summer days, you can bet that the appearance of air conditioning is right up there in my top three improvements over the years.   And of course, whenever I can get close to an octogenarian, those old war stories or 'slice-of-life stories like when the most exclusive parts of Rome were once considered the dregs of the earth, or the earthquake that hit in XXX, or hearing tales of family outings on one single scooter... well, they provide food for the soul.  Occasionally, I post my own features here on the blog.

During the summer, many of the movie theaters in Italy take a hiatus.  It doesn't really matter, because you can go to any number of outdoor arenas that put the 1950s American drive-ins to shame.  Italy loves cinema, and cinema loves Italians.  You can find a wealth of movies for almost every taste at any number of movie houses, in a vast array of art houses, and at cinema clubs showing films dubbed to perfection.  Today, you can choose from films from nearly every country, and practically every century since celluloid.   But you don't have to go back as far as Cinema Paradiso scenes to recall what movie going was like before the age of mega-cinemas and Dolby Sound.
It may have taken awhile to get the refreshment stands in cinemas (something that most wise Italians will insist is not an improvement), and a bit longer to get them from stopping the film mid-reel (a heinous event that still takes place, much to the moviegoer's chagrin)  but, the comfort level at most places small and large has gone up in my lifetime exponentially.  Even in tiny cinemas, you can be seated in huge lounge chairs and treated to two hours of great cinema, some seats even sporting cup holders attached.  Under these conditions, I could even get through Bertolucci's 8 hr Novecento masterpiece.

After this charming specimen met its match and ended up as kindling wood, cinemas often were furnished with regular old folding chairs, carefully lined up in rows and rows.  This was circa 1980s Milan.
The chairs were not the issue.  The problem was, of course, the flow.  If a tall person happened to sit down in front of you, your viewing was impaired along with the blood flow to your legs.  I remember watching entire movies without the benefit of the right hand corner or mid-section of the screen.
It's a problem resolved only recently by the airlines with mini-screens at the back of each seat; and one in which I'm quite certain, if churches ever succeeded at tackling, perhaps more people would attend the sermons, concerts and other offerings - instead of winding up with an obstructed pew seat.
Nowadays, and only after extensive restoration work altering the slope of cinemas and inserting layered seating, can the Italian movie experience be rated four-stars.
And seeing that Italian movie buffs rarely interrupt their films with the sound effects of munching on popcorn and treats, if we can now just stop the darned intermissions countrywide, we would win the Oscar for movie-going.

Click here or Check out my 'Favorites' listed on the blog (right hand column) for my book excerpt on Cinema intermissions.

EATALY comes to Rome: from one Hungry Blogger

Some friends visiting from London came to Rome on route to moving to China, in a sort of reverse Marco Polo.  Let's face it: Marco may have seen some mighty fine pasta noodles in his day, but when it comes to a hot dish of Pici al Cacio e Pepe, you gotta go straight to the source:  Bella Roma.  And now, because of Eataly, you don't have to be confined to just mouth-watering Roman dishes, but you've got the whole breadbasket of Italy to choose from:  from De Cecco Pasta (Abruzzi) to Illy Caffè (Trieste via Brazil), to Nutella (Torino) -- showcasing a host of bilingual cookbooks to do more with it than just eat it from the jar with a spoon, alas - that presupposes it gets as far as your countertop without actually leaving the palm of your hand; something I've heard of but have never experienced myself) -- In short, if it's gourmet, and Italian: Eataly's got it.
On the way over to the fabulous reconverted gorgeous train station buildings of Rome's Stazione Ostiense (a stone's throw from the Pyramid - I love it when I can type stuff like that), we debated if it wasn't a bit like bringing coal to Newcastle.  I mean, you can get wonderful treats - I imagine at a fraction of the cost  (after all, their motto is 'High Food') - at your local grocer's.  My Vote?  Put it all in one place, with easy-on-the-eye merchandising and exceptional customer service (okay, make that so-so customer service, we'll still take it), and it'll be a winner -- if nothing else for the novelty of food courts that have nothing to do with the American-style of grazing, pigs-feeding-at-the-deep-fried-trough style.

Eataly, now open at Rome's Stazione Ostiense area
(right near the pyramid)

Judging from the crowds, I felt as though I were going to a Rolling Stones concert in the '80s; sadly, without the pot high.  You certainly needed to smoke something to numb the nerves after the long queues just trying to get into the parking lot.  I didn't care, really, new life had been breathed into a moribund area that up to now had been a holding pen for economic immigrants being offered open-air bathrooms with gypsies managing makeshift campgrounds.  You'd also find meandering tourists wandering around, wondering how to haul their Iuggage up to the track to the airport.  I absolutely loved all the hustle-bustle of people driving about who didn't call their cars 'home'.
Parking was actually easy as people were coming and going at a nice clip. So were the cars trying to run you down in the final 10m sprint to the entrance.  Gazing up in awe at its cathedral ceilings reaching up to the heavens and sparkling white dècor, Eataly may have looked like a modern shrine built in a post-war part of Rome, but the cat-and-mouse game with car bumpers brought you back down to the netherworld.  Real fast.
Once inside, fairly good bilingual signage conceived by seemingly ex-Ikea graphics teams seemed to do the trick nicely.  Although it was still a bit confusing...we couldn't tell if you could sit and order from anywhere, or if you could only order from the section nearest where you were seated (we believe that is the case - I don't know for sure, for reasons that shall follow).  The idea of mob seating and then waiting for orders to be taken was highly disconcerting to me and my fellow anglo-saxons -- It may work in New York City where waiters take tips quite seriously, but I don't know how it will play in the piazza...where no one stands in line, and waiters usually take the "wait" part verrrry seriously.  So, you had to either hover over a table and try your luck at grabbing it, or, in some places join a line being formed.  I would have preferred the "go up to the counter / get your food / bring to table" type of food court, but, of course, I'm used to food courts sporting stadium seating for the 24-hour grazer (in the good 'ol USA).  The problem with (or, actually, benefit of) places like Italy is that the dinner hour is quite precise (even though in Rome it's much more flexible than say, Milan).  So, it looked like all of Rome had descended on Eataly - all at the same time.  Let's just say, there wasn't stadium seating for these stadium crowds.  
Needless to say, after three of us cruised tables as if looking for a hot pickup in different sections and across different floors, drooling at the bit for some of the gorgeous meals being heaped on plates and delivered by young Italian versions of Mercury riding up and down the escalators, we called it quits.  We hoped it was opening week crowds, but...I have a feeling, it'd be best to go early or much much later - always.  Entire families seated there, young trendy couples, and everyone - everyone - sporting a smile on their face.  It looked like so much fun, we wanted to pull up a chair and join right in (alright, alright...that was our stomachs talking)...
All told, seeing thousands of people wandering up and down, in and out, it did bring to mind my favorite Berlusconi quote:  What economic crisis?  The airlines are overbooked, and restaurants are full...and he hadn't even heard of Eataly yet [well, if you don't count the heaps of monies paid out to politicians in bribes for contracts and illegal bids and buildings which the Italians like to call...'Eating' - an Italian speciality, so, Eataly works too].
We decided to drown our sorrows at a wonderful trattoria in nearby San Saba to enjoy a meal, but it was so over-crowded, we only did get served a delicious meal well after 10:30 at night...a full 90 minutes from our first sprinting steps (at the crosswalks) into Eataly.  I had never seen so many people at my locale.  We wondered if they were the 'Eataly reject crowd'.  Nonetheless, it did cause my friend to provide his own recap of our evening:

First, you take us to a place with tons of food and no tables.   

Then, you take us to a place with tables but no food.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

*note: colored areas are often live links

Tons of travel tips for Italy

Friends who run a wonderful B&B - The Beehive - and apartment rental service Cross-Pollinate in Rome have been penning quite a few pointers on their blog for years.  It is filled with excellent tips for anyone coming to Rome, with a touch of user-friendly advice as given by their lovely daughters often featured in the videos.  I loved the quirky stuff so much, I thought I would bring you one as a guest post feature.  
This one is on how, exactly, to drink from the Nasoni (or Big Snout) Water Fountains of Rome just like a native.  They also provide another on shopping tips, or purchasing train tickets from Rome Termini Station (right near the Beehive) to Fiumicino - Leonardo Da Vinci airport.  You can even download on their home page an exceptional 'insider's guide' to all things Roman while there.  Their cross-pollinate blog posts are also filled with cool tips and neat stuff to make any trip that much more pleasurable.  So be sure to buzz over there sometime and check out what hoteliers Steve & Linda (& their girls) have to say.

I Nasoni - water fountains of Rome from Cross-Pollinate Travel on Vimeo

note: all live links are in grey above

Tante Belle Cose - Summer in Italy

Anyone who travels to Italy, knows one thing for sure:  It's hot out and generally, hot inside as well. It's what leads people and dogs alike straight into the glorious fountains that abound in every city.  For those brave enough to get off the beaten track of the Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary, Italy in the summer is nothing short of spectacular.  In August, every city, town, hamlet - heck even strip mall joint across the boot offers a stunning smorgasbord of cultural & gastronomic delights for everyone.
If you're traveling to Italy, it's great to check out blogs & sites that tell you what events are going on in any part of the town or just outside of it.  We spent the summer traveling from sagra to sagra, which are gastronomic fairs in which you are served heaps of pasta with local sauces like cinghiale (wild boar), tartufi (truffles), fettuccine all'amatriciana (in Amatrice), and every other sort of tasty treat.
Other towns host medieval festivals, jousting competitions, or parades like the one we saw in Massa Marittima, with a crossbow competition of archers hitting the bullseye right on the mark.  At night, there are concerts with local Italian talent, rock, jazz or pop or even ballroom dancing. We enjoyed them all.
Spending a week in Massa Marittima, with its hilltop sunsets, travertine cathedrals and wonderful people, has just knocked my favorite town in Italy, Ascoli Piceno off the map.  But that's not quite fair to Ascoli.  I visited in cold and gloomy March, when we had nothing else to do but pop delicious Olive Ascolane (yummy stuffed & deep-fried olives) in our mouths.  
So, here's to summertime in Italy, when the living is not only easy, but can actually be exhausting! 

Tante Belle Cose - August2010 Italy's Good News

Although this isn't good news from Italy, it affects all of us, especially those that happen to like soccer/football, European style.  The UEFA football league has put a mute on the vuvuzela.  Banned from games "out of respect for European culture & tradition." 

the mute for horns from www.soulomute.com

Yes, that's right.  They've put the clamp on the horns but not the hoodlums...But even there, there's a bright spot: "fans" will soon be holding electronic cards.  You won't be let in the stadium if you're on a watch list.  Only thing is, who's to stop people from gaining entry with someone else's card.  And then, of course, there's the counterfeiting to contend with.

The neighborhood near San Paolo - St. Paul's Outside the Walls - is undergoing a nice new renovation.  Of the big waste containers.  They've added spiffy new garbage cans, embedded in the ground, in an effort to clean up the area.  Although they'll make a good pit stop for pets, it's a sure improvement over the grotesque monstrosities currently littering the streets of Bella Roma.  Problem is, will it entice people to actually use them...AND differentiate their trash?  Doubtful.

And speaking of cleaning things up, local governments won a legal battle against wild increases in highway fares, citing they impede commerce and are another tax on workers.  So, the fares have gone back down, while the consumer associations are asking for a rebate to travelers who paid them since July 1st.  But of course, if you don't have a receipt, how will you prove it?.

And finally, Rome's great summer fest is drawing to a close but not before they can squeeze some last concerts in for those wanting to enjoy some summer sounds.  Two of my favorite musicians are here:  Giovanni Baglioni playing his guitar on 3 September in Castel Gondolfo and Pino Daniele on the 4th in the ancient theater of Ostia Antica.  Lots still happening in the arts, so check out www.inromenow.com for more terrific listings.

Summer in Italy - The Heat's On

Ahhhh…summer in Italy – lazy days, hot nights, events, pools, fireworks almost nightly, gelato in the piazza.  Always something to celebrate.  Old men sit in the piazza in their undershirts, women stay inside, the shutters closed tight, and young girls show more skin than half of us wish they would.  Summer is filled with surprises, and yesterday, I got an eyeful. 

Walking my dog, I happened upon a totally buff guy – with his shirt off.  Although Americans think Europeans are totally ‘anything goes’, this is one taboo that has yet to be broken in Europe.  You can show off your tattoos, your ‘tramp stamps’, the supposedly sexy but totally revolting way of revealing one’s plumber butt, but shirts off?  Europeans save that for the beach – whereby the women take it all off, too.

Coming from America, where nowadays the men (even the ones who don’t look like the Pillsbury Dough-boy) could use bras, this is one tradition I wish they would take on board.  Let’s face it, unless you look like Usher – well, keep it under wraps.

So, here I was, face to face with an Olympian swimmer’s back – who needs espresso in the morning?  And it wasn’t even that hot out yet!  I was certain he could not be Italian.  The guy turned around, and there he was, a Chinese market vendor with movie star looks.   

I entertained momentarily the thought of telling him that going around bare-chested wasn’t something that was done in Italy, but then I thought of all the Signore who’d be coming to the marketplace soon – and I just passed by with a simple, Buon Giorno!

Banking in England: Or, How the other half lives

Staying in London has brought a welcome breath of fresh air. From the horror stories I've been hearing about the searing heat in Rome, I'm actually happy, despite having to wear my typical August-in-England outfits replete with tights, coat and bonnet (wool).
So, what does a paesana do in Londontown? I'm having an absolute ball checking out all of the brilliant ads, many of which I've photographed and will be posting soon. I also seem to spend hours in card shops; I feel like a drunk in a liquor store.
But today, I had the loverly experience of actually going into a bank, at 4pm no less, and conducting a transaction. The tellers, like in Italy, were few but friendly, even stopping to give me advice on what to do about my serious cold. Not only was it wonderful to be able to make a transaction at the hour of the day of my choosing, I did something which, 17 years on, seems almost like committing fraud: I actually deposited money -- with my very own signature no less -- into an account of another individual. It was truly liberating, to say the least.
I also managed to make a transaction with a bank that doesn't know me, and where, I'm happy to report, I didn't have to select a number (max waiting time: 6 mins). I happily filled out a deposit form at the counter, free of the anxiety of meeting about a half dozen people at my window asking for forms.
I even paused in the lobby to pick up a few brochures, cute and simple, and not with fine print so small about the various codes, rules & regulations regarding that same offer. And, even finer print showing that you will lose money, regardless (just check out the consumer associations about lawsuits against banks for their shady practices and mis-information campaigns, and you'll see what I mean).
August in London. A breeze.

Traveling with Pets in Italy: A resource guide

Here we are, at the onset of the summer onslaught – not due to the traffic jams of millions of autos piling up on Italy’s highways, but to the number of dogs that get abandoned unceremoniously on the sides of those same roads, only to have the last sight they see, the oversized rubber wheel of an SUV.
It would appear that government budget cuts and a general lack of funding has left us without even the guilt-inducing posters all around town in a (vain) effort to get people to stop this annual act of cruelty inflicted on man’s (purported) best friend.

But, I bring you good tidings: There are two things to be happy about this Summer of 2009:

One, I’m thinking that the economic crisis is forcing so many families to stay put, that little Fido doesn’t have to fend for himself in front of the fenders.

And, starting on the internet but coming soon in a book, conscientious citizens, hoteliers, beach fronts and other tourist businesses are busy bragging about the fact that they accept dogs. This may also be due to the idea of attracting customers, but hey, anything that could reduce the number of canine casualties is a good thing. The government seems to believe that the old posters probably didn’t do much anyway, so they’ve set out to promote all of the places that makes pooches portable instead.
[Once we got around the absolute fools at Italy’s TrenItalia who wanted Rufus off the rails and consequently on the roads, they, too, can be included in this listing]. Even the Autogrills set up – in cohoots with volunteer organizations – little doggie parking lots at highway rest stops so people don’t leave Lulu in a 200 degree car, thinking they’ll ‘be out in a minute’ (you try going through those awesome mazes once inside from front to finish in under 12 minutes…!)

The internet is also full of many of these people admonishing the abandonment although I simply don’t think many people who are setting out to be an accomplice to murder are actually surfing sites labeled Your Pet – Your Prince or Traveling with Dogs or Happy Pets Inc…

Here is a list of terrific sources as reported in the Corriere della Sera’s CITY newspaper:

FINALMENTE, ENTRO ANCH’IO! www.turistia4zampe.it  [You can supposedly search dog-friendly facilities, but I think TripAdvisor might be a better bet, since the site doesn't seem to be updated since 2010 - like most great initiatives, never followed through after the initial launch].

In Rome’s Ponte Milvio ‘beach’, dogs are welcome at the Villa bau village, complete with activities for you to enjoy with your pet.

Need to take Trixy in a taxi? www.taxideglianimali.it (they even pick up corpses - you know, after they've had a heat stroke on the beach above)
Although, I must say, only in Italia would you find that the article loaded with excellent info on traveling with Toto offering some sage words of advice to all those dogs (namely, all of them) who stick their head out of car windows: Attenzione! for the Colpa d’Aria!
Whether that admonition is for Oscar or his owner, that’s for you to decide.

The Olympians

A few people have asked me to weigh in on the Olympics, although I must say, I was so proud of the Italians that I really didn’t have a barb ready and waiting to put fingertips to keyboard. Proud, first because our athletes were so awesome. And I didn’t care about the medals. The coverage of their stamina, their training and dedication was awe-inspiring, especially the women.

Every four years you can look forward to a split second in time when women are on TV, yes, still scantily dressed (just take a look at the beach volleyball teams), but revered for their prowess, their acumen, their commitment. The sportscasters get it, the country gets it, so why can’t it last longer than a few weeks?

But, these Olympics are even more awesome when one looks around the country and thinks… they have athletes here? (soccer players not included, of course).
No class of citizens here called Soccer Moms (for which we are all extremely grateful), no after school sightings of kids in jerseys, and certainly none of those thick football player necks and skulls and perky cheerleaders (although with the obsession of eye candy, I'm not quite sure why this hasn't caught on). I remember years back when I lived in Parma, they had the No. 1 baseball team in the country (yes, baseball). Almost everyone on it was American.


Another reason I loved the Olympics this year was the age of some of the players. Although I’m partial to having non-professionals compete, I was thrilled that some of the leading teammates were pushing 40 or more, which made them about 5 times the average age of the Chinese “women’s” gymnasts. In what is just about the oldest country on earth, and despite its obsession with youth, this was yet another inspirational feat.

But, the real reason why I love watching the Olympics in Italy are the newscasters. They show an extreme love of the sport, the game, the players. They are not cheerleaders like in the U.S. They analyze moves, strategy, the competition. Italy was just as thrilled by Phelps as if he had been one of their own. The screens split and show us other games, and not just those focusing on Italians.

But most importantly, they spare us the ridiculous sob story blather that plagues reporting in America: “Did you know, Mike, that Julie once had an ingrown toenail so bad, that, if it had ever gotten infected, she might not be competing in the long distance today???”
Italy garnered some well-deserved medals. But they get the gold in reporting.

Under Wraps

One of my most favorite columns ever pre-blogosphere, that is, was the article by humorist Dave Barry on his trip to Italy. I still have a copy of it as it nearly killed me with laughter. It was mostly about the Italian drivers he came across during his holiday, but he also stated something so obvious I had never thought about it before:

August is a time when everybody in Italy goes on vacation – including the statues – and every building seems to be wrapped up, under restoration.

It's true: every July, for some strange reason, builders across the boot are busy as bees putting up scaffolding and tarps across pretty much every façade in sight. They give one hope -- a nation intent on showcasing its cultural treasures for all the world to see. But come August 1st, they only call it quits -- leaving the tourists with a cute little ‘Name that Palazzo’ game to play over their summer holiday.

I can’t figure out the rationale, other than getting set to go come September. But, once again, in a country dependent on tourism, you sometimes gotta scratch your head in wonder.

But, applying my own little conspiracy theory…from the looks of it, it would seem that while the workers may be officially on holiday, they’re all double-dipping in and around the very scaffolding that should be as still as a humid Milan summer’s night. Because come fall, when work resumes, and they eventually rip down the tarps, neighbors who once had a perfect view of that dome in the distance, now see a 4 bedroom party palace for some amico or another of some unnamed City official.

I suggest someone start making those groovy little books with the plastic drawings overtop so you can see what the Building looked like before August, and compare it to what it looks like now.

picture of Torre dell'Orologio in Venice's St. Marks Square, designed by famed photographer, Olivero Toscani who obviously figured, if they can bring Venice to Vegas, they can certainly set Pisa in Piazza San Marco

Tante Belle Cose - July08

This month, Italy is on the move. And, within all the negative information on the 14+ million people on the road for the August holidays, the skyrocketing cost of gas, train tickets at record highs, there are many good things happening in the world of transport (not least of which, the eventual sale or demise of Alitalia)…

Italy’s Eurostar – The train I love to hate has actually been recognized as the safest on the tracks, and probably the best made. The rest of Europe will soon be taking Italy’s engineering prowess to their own drawing boards.

Shame that the announcement came just days before -- in two separate incidents – two carriages split right in two whilst being towed.

The Great Italian Vespa – High gas prices in the USA have delivered great news to the Agnelli-owned Piaggio Company, makers of the illustrious Vespa. Even with the low dollar, sales are up 150%.


Of course, the Company doesn't mention that they went from selling one Vespa per year up now to three.

Rome’s Horse Carriages – Animal rights groups are partially rejoicing after trying to remove the buggies which take tourists around Rome. They won’t be removed, but, will undergo surprise checks to see that the horses are not abused, are stationed in the shade and, in the summer heat, will not be available between the hours of 13.00-17.00.

Now, if we can just get these same groups to fight for human rights and get air-conditioning on the buses between the hours of 13.00 and 17.00, they might help put an end to our misery.

Hot Time..Summer in the City (I)

Well, summer has finally come to Rome, with its scorching hot 90 degree days; hot enough not only to fry an egg on the sidewalk, but to fry your own frittata – with onion.

As if Global Warming wasn’t enough, I suspect that City officials in Italy contribute more to heat stroke and their populace's suffering than anyone or anything on earth (and I don't mean the steam the politicians blow off time and again)...

Forget the CO2 emissions and cow gas and icecaps melting – for some odd reason, cities throughout the country think it’s a banner idea to make their sidewalks out of black tar.

Granted, it’s easier to dig up now and again - a regular feature of the Italian cityscape - as they lay wires and more wires and even more in order to get on and then stay on the Information Superhighway.
Here, however, they've taken that highway concept a bit too literally.

Haven't they noticed how Vespas list just before sinking into the sidewalk as if mistakenly parked in quicksand? Or, how women can actually walk right out of their shoes as their heels get stuck right in their melting path? I know of what I speak.

The heat emanating from the sidewalks is palpable long after the sun has disappeared. I imagine that, if someone really checked, they’d find that this is the number one reason for temperature rises throughout the country.

Milan used to be, like Amsterdam still is, a city of canals. Once they decided to pave them over with bricks, it was downhill from there. Now completely tarred, I have oft been tempted to toss broken glass in the melting tar at least to make it sparkle a bit. Sometimes, when walking my dog, I feel that I am sort of slowly braising him from the paws up.

It was no wonder that up until very recently, people parked willy-nilly on the sidewalks just as on the streets. Drivers would simply ‘pull up’ on the sidewalk to make a phone call, dash in for a quick espresso at the bar, grab a prescription at the pharmacy. It didn’t really matter where you left the car. The sidewalk was merely an extension of the road you had just been on.

And, that’s to say nothing for the aesthetics. One comparison between Milan and Rome and you can see how inviting it is to sit down at a sidewalk café where the sidewalks aren’t actually just an extension of the kitchen ovens.

All I know is that whoever came up with the expression, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, get outta the kitchen’ has never left the restaurant altogether to be served out on the sidewalk.